Chapter 5: Erika
Erika walked out of her room looking prim, proper and perfect. The three P's…oh how she hated the three P's. Everyday she had to be practically perfect in every way. Not that she didn't enjoy being in the spot light and have everyone look up to and want to be her, it's just that sometimes it can get a little bit too overwhelming. Sometimes she just wants to be able to pig out on a pizza and not have anyone judge her or look at her funny.
She made her miraculous entry into the kitchen where Damien was eating like a mad man and her mother was, most likely cooking the fifth course of breakfast. From the kitchen window she could see her father and the strange man whose name is Shippou (it turns out that he was only checking her spiritual powers, which she now knows is "not up to par" and that she should practice more) sparing outside.
It was around 9 o'clock, she always sleeps in whenever she has the chance unlike Damien, and she sat down to breakfast. Her mother set her a plate in front of her covered with food: eggs, bacon, toast, sausage and more. All of her favorites. Her mother was an amazing cook. She was about to take her first bite when all of a sudden the phone rang. She knew it was one of her friends calling to do something. You think they could give her a break, I mean, it's 9 o'clock.
"Erika, it's your friend." Sung her mother.
She got up, walked over to the phone and said, "hello," in the perkiest voice she could muster for being this early.
"Oh, hey Erika. You know what I heard? I heard that Jeffery likes Caitlin but Caitlin likes…" Oh god, Erika thought, won't you just shut up and give me a moment to myself? "Hello, Erika? Are you still there? Are you even paying attention?"
"Oh yes, Darlene." Erika said, "I am just totally stunned about Jeffery and Caitlin." She said hoping her reaction was right.
"I know, I can't believe it either. And I heard that…"
She never ends with the meaningless gossip, Erika thought.
"So, like, do you wanna go to the mall and check it out?" Darlene said hurriedly.
Erika, looking for an excuse to ditch said hurriedly, "No, um, actually, I'm sick." She faked a cough. "Yeah, Strep throat, just inflamed over the night. Sorry, but tell me everything ok."
"O my god, are you ok? Do you need some medicine? Because I can hurry up and run down to the corner store and buy you some medicine and then I can come over and keep you company and I can make you soup and do your chores and anything you want."
Erika couldn't take much more so she just slammed down the phone and went back to her breakfast.
She wasn't nearly halfway done her eggs when the phone rang again and, sure enough, it was one of her friends.
"O my god, I just got off the phone with Darlene and she said you had melanoma and then your phone short circuited and electrocuted you."
It's just like Darlene to over exaggerate everything.
It was about noon and Erika had done nothing but lie around and rest. She gets a day to herself once every month. She was happy to just rest and relax.
Erika was a complex girl and lived a complex life since the day she was born. Her mother and father were a witch/magical person and half demon (although a good demon). Since there weren't many witches and demons left (actually none) they were the strongest around. Even from the feudal age, where her father was from, they would be ranked up with the best of them. So, in turn, her and her brother were pretty powerful. Although, since they were twins, the powers that would normally get passed down got split into two. Therefore, Damien had pure half demon powers, and Erika had pure witch/magical powers.
When Erika's mother was out of high school, her and her father left the house that they currently live in and moved a few towns over. Erika's grandma was getting old and could not take care of her father so, when Erika's mother moved they took him along with her and a year later Erika and Damien were born. Damien, ever since he was born was always a man onto himself. He always wanted to do things himself and never had any human bonding with anyone. Erika, on the other hand took a shining to her great grandpa.
Erika enjoyed all the stories that her great grandpa would tell her about his days in his youth and how he honed his magical skills that run deep in their family and who used them to help his father defeat the last remaining demons. He even showed her his Gunsen that he got from his father. It was, at least, 150 years old but looked brand new.
When Erika was only five, they had to move. She did not know why they had to move or why they had to move so quickly, all she knew was that her great grandpa was getting ill and she wanted to help him get healthier, quicker.
Unfortunately, when Erika was 7, he died. Erika got so angry at Damien because he refused to go to the funeral. That was when they started to part ways and, eventually, they started to deny existence of each other.
Erika was sitting on her bed listening to her portable CD player. The music calmed her and helped her relax. Although the music was not too loud she could barely hear the knock on the door.
"Come in," she said and her mother walked in. From outside in the hall she could see the Shippou creep, lurking.
"Now, Shippou says, and I agree, that you should start practicing your magic again. You remember? Like when you used to practice with great grandpa?" her mother said in a soothing voice, testing to see if Erika still had a headache.
"What with that?" Erika said coldly motioning to Shippou.
"Oh honey, he was only trying to test you. He needed to see if you were ready." Erika's mother said.
"Ready? Ready for what?" Erika said sharply.
Her mother paused for a second. She looked at Shippou and Shippou looked back. It seemed as if they were speaking telepathically. "We cannot tell you. You are not ready."
"Again with this readiness crap. Just tell me what it is I have to be ready for and I'll start getting 'ready'" Erika said and turned on her music again.
In what seemed like no time (literally, like not even one millisecond) her headphones were off and her CD player was gone and there Shippou was staring at her.
His stare was mesmerizing. His eyes were so perfect, yet so wrong. It felt odd, yet welcoming. She felt like she was going to be hurt, yet saved.
She couldn't differentiate between up and down. It was all so confusing. And then she found herself saying, "alright, fine I'll do it," and not even knowing why she had said it.
She got up and followed them out of her room, down the stairs, through the kitchen, out the door. When she realized that they were heading to the shrine she remembered the first time they had moved here.
Erika was in the car, bored out of her mind, not paying attention to where it was going when, all of a sudden, it stop and she realized, they were here. The place was enormous. She couldn't understand why they had left in the first place. Her grandparents must have been loaded.
"Ok, Erika, you can go search around the grounds while we unpack." Her mother said cheerfully.
Being 11 and a girl had its perks. For one thing, she was exempt to most strenuous activities like lifting heavy suitcases. She snickered as she saw Damien struggling with the couch. Although only 11, he could pick up a whole couch, not smoothly and not easily but he always liked to show our father all that he can do.
It serves Damien right to have to help unpack and move in. It was his whole fault that we had to move in the first place. Just because his precious old Eri died and he had a temper tantrum and knocked down our house. Sometimes he can be so immature, thought Erika.
Erika was thinking about all the times that it had been all his fault for things and she had to deal with it to. She hated him. She wished she could be have been an only child. Who needs a twin anyway?
She wasn't really paying attention to where she was going and, before she knew it, she was in front of a shed-like house thing. Her mother had told her to explore and that is what she was doing so she opened up the door.
Inside, it seemed pretty lame. In the middle of the floor, there was a well. That was all. The well had been sealed and a whole bunch of stickers that she saw her great grandpa with on it. He never told her what they were for.
She was about to leave when all of a sudden something caught her eye. She looked more intensely at it and then, after seeing nothing she went to close the door but, once again she saw nothing.
She was about to step all the way in when her grandmother put her hand on her shoulder and, after making Erika jump and scream said, "that is no place for little girls to be playing in" and led her away.
Now, she was going into this place that was "no place for little girls to be playing in". She felt uneasy walking towards it like there was some sort of force trying to stop her from reaching it.
She walked in and, it was the same as always. Just on little well in the middle of the floor. However, it was different. The lid was gone and so were the stickers.
Erika walked towards the well and looked in. Nothing in it just seemed normal.
"Why are we here?" she asked while turning around. However, when she went to turn around to face them she was pushed. Pushed into the well.
If you can remember or, at least know what it is that Kagome is, I mean her title, like Inuyasha is a demon and Kagome is…. Please tell me, it will help with my writing.